Tutorial Two: Digital Camera use and applications

“A new technology is rarely superior to an old one in every feature”. Briefly discuss this statement in relation to digital camera technology. What would you consider to be some of the pluses and minuses digital camera technology holds in relation to more traditional film based cameras?

Digital and analog cameras both have their pro's and cons.
Here are some of my personal opinions on digital vs analog cameras:

DIGITAL:
Pros:
1. You can see the picture as soon as you have taken it, and then choose to delete or keep it.
2. You can take hundreds of photos on 1 memory stick.
3. You can make the image more or less sharp which can reduce or increase the byte size of the picture which is helpful when you are downloading photos onto tradme and they have to be under 500kb.
4. You can edit the images at a photo centre place (eg at The Warehouse) and do neat things to the images before printing, eg put on captions, crop, rotate, take out red eye semi-effectively, put on borders etc. This is inexpensive.
5. If you purchase the software then you can edit and manipulate your images on your home PC.
6. If you purchase the hardware and ink you can print your pictures at home.
Cons:
1. The instructions for use / user manual are really hard to follow if you're not tech savy.
2. The are heaps and heaps of 'accessories' for the camera which are a pain to carry around and easily lost eg chargers, memory cards, flash sticks, data cable, TV cable, and remote to name a few.
3. Unless you buy a very expensive one that's like 8 megapixels with 12x digital zoom and 12x optical zoom (or something like that), the picture quality is pretty crap, ie dull and flat.
3a: Even the really fancy expensive digital cameras do not produce photos with as much depth and clarity as the analog.
4. You must had a decent optical zoom if you want to zoom in on pictures and still maintain some quality. Again, expensive.
5. Image editing software and colour printers and colour inks can be very expensive if you want decent quality photographs printed at home.

ANALOG:
Pros:
1. You only need to carry the camera itself and some film with you when you want to take pics. Not a lot of extra's to lug around.
2. The camera's are relatively easy and straight forward to use. Point and click.
3. The published picture quality is great.
4. When you are at a group event you don't take a picture and then the subjects all come up and say "show me show me! ew yuck delete!!" which can be very annoying.
5. You can get relatively inexpensive cameras that take great pictures.
Cons:
1. There is not that much of a range to choose from in shops anymore.
2. You cannot easily edit or manipulate the images.
3. You have to use roles of film that only take 24 or 36 exposures.

Overall I prefer the analog cameras for ease of use, picture quality, and price; but prefer digital cameras for editing images.

List some of the ways that digital images can be stored transferred and manipulated using other communications technology.

Images can be stored and or transferred using memory cards, flash sticks, discs, computers, cameras, phones.
Images can be manipulated using computer software like PhotoShop, and using equipment like photostations.

Given the prevalence of image capturing devices, and thinking about the issues discussed in tutorial one, consider what sort of ethical issues may arise with their use.

It has always been easy to take pictures or video without the subjects realising, but before the information age it was not usual to be carrying a camera with you all the time. Now that it is 'normal' for people to be carrying image capturing devices like cell phones in their daily lives, it has made this problem much more common. This is an ethical problem, and an example of this is that images may be used without the subjects consent, and this could cause great distress to the person and/or their family. Images on cell phones are easily pxt'd to other phones, and from these phones to other phones, and so on, which reduces the likelihood of containment of these images and means they could end up anywhere in the world.

Briefly discuss some of the ways that digital images could, or are, being used in occupational therapy practice.

Pictures of clients homes or property to use if adaptive devices or equipment is required (or may be required at a later date), video or pictures of different types of therapy/treatment, different illnesses/disabilities/diseases etc, client progress or deterioration, case studies, equipment etc etc.
Digital images in OT are mainly used to gather and share information.

Provide a brief summary of the services offered by Flickr.com

Online photo management and sharing site.
You can:
Upload from your desktop, send by email, or use your cameraphone.
Use collections, sets, and tags to organize your photos and videos.
Use groups and privacy controls to share your photos and videos.
Share where your photos and videos were taken, and see photos and videos taken near you.
Make stuff, like sexy cards, photo books, framed prints, Target pick up, DVDs, etc.
Keep in touch and get updates from family and friends.

Name one other photo storage website which offers a service similar to Flickr.com

www.webshots.com

Explain what the difference is between a digital and an optical zoom

Optical zoom allows you to magnify the image by changing the focal length. This is like looking through binoculars and you can see the image in much greater detail.
Digital zoom just enlarges a small portion of the image, but it is still exactly the same image. By doing this, you lose image quality because it becomes pixelated.

Explain what is meant by the term mega pixel

A pixel is a tiny square of colour. This is what digital photos are made up of.
A mega pixel is a million pixels.